How To: Tip Properly

Washroom attendant $1 will suffice (how much good service can you receive anyhow?).

Valet parking attendant Leave $2.

Bartenders If you're lounging at a restaurant bar while waiting to be seated, make sure to tip the bartender for his service, even if your drinks are added to your final restaurant bill.

Whether you're drinking at a restaurant bar or a trendy nightclub, it's always good to have cash on you for the sole purpose of tipping — by bills, I do not mean loose change — you don't want to dump your piggy bank into a bartender's hands.

The easiest way to tip is by leaving anywhere between $2 and $5 (depending on your generosity) per drink — of course, the more you leave, the greater an impression you make. Bartenders do remember great and poor tips, and are not distracted by the music, big shots and flowing vodka.

If you're a larger group at a nightclub and you know it'll be a long night (it's your best friend's bachelor party, after all), make it known that you'll be running up a tab, and leave the bartender who served you all night at least 15% of the bill — leave more if you guys demanded a lot of attention.

If you were literally ignored by the bartender, he was rude to you, or tried to pick up your date in front of you, don't be shy — leave a penny (just don't do this in front of your date).

Coffee shop staff When it comes to the patient people that make your cappuccino every morning, leave $1 in the tip bowl by the cash, as opposed to 15% of the bill. And if you're seated at a coffee shop, again, don't use the 15% rule; instead, leave anywhere between $1 and $2, depending on how many times your coffee was refilled and how long you sat there, staring at the hot regular who always sits across from you.

Want to know how much to leave the hotel staff, your barber, or an escort? Come back next week for How To: Tip Properly, Part II — but go somewhere else for the escort.